Coming Soon to a Journey Blog Near You

As much as I’d like to write something long and well thought-out for the blog every day, it’s a little impractical when I have clients to write for and personal, career-focused projects that I desperately need to work on daily. But at the same time, I understand that the variant rate of release and general unknowing of what’s going to crop up next can underwhelm readers. So I’ve decided to be a little more upfront about what you can expect in the foreseeable future.

Perilous Heights Part 3 – The End

First of all, I’m close to finishing Perilous Heights. The third and final part of the story will be coming out in the next couple days. I intend to fully proofread and polish the story after it’s complete with an ideal final polished product post sometime later on.

Two Research Heavy Gaming Articles

As I mentioned before, there are two gaming articles I’ve been researching and working on – “The Psychology Behind Pre-Order and Hype Culture” and an article about competitive Elo ranking systems. The research for both articles has been a bit troublesome, and I’ve increased the scope of the elo ranking system article to beyond just CS:GO in order to be a bit more all-inclusive and reach a wider audience.

Both articles should be completed and posted sometime next week, i.e. after Perilous Heights Part 3.

“Darkest Dungeon, Then and Now Plus Gameplay Tips”

Today I finally decided to take a look at Darkest Dungeon, a game I’ve been keen on since before it was even playable. The game has gone through a myriad of controversial changes since it hit Steam, many of which have tarnished its earlier stellar reception as one of the best examples of early access done right.

I played the game a great deal when it first came out before giving it a rest until it was either finished or much more developed. Seeing as how it has a lot more content and has undergone quite a few significant changes, I think now’s as good a time as any.

I won’t seek to fully complete the game before chiming in, but I do want to get deep into its gameplay before jumping to conclusions. I should be good to write on it once I start wailing on the stage 2 boss iterations, which were previously one of my biggest negative points against the game. I just beat the first boss, so we’ll see how things go from there.

Gaming Focus Over TV and Movies

I like writing about TV shows and movies. I’m sure I’ll pepper in articles about the topic here and there as the mood hits, but I’m looking to focus more on gaming. This is largely due to three reasons:

I’m being paid regularly to write for a TV content site, which even includes my name on the by-line. (My real name, not Locke Kosta.)

Less people seem to care about written TV and movie content.

Television Reddit mods call my content spam, even if I’m breaking news about the upcoming Amazon Fire TV with a 1000 word article only hours after Amazon published the press release about it. Apparently it’s spam if you aren’t Variety, Collider or some other established news outlet. (Can you tell I’m irked?)

Gaming is a massive passion of mine and gamers are a much more lenient, independent-artist-supporting bunch – just look at the streaming scene gaming fans have built. (It’s a multi-billion dollar industry! And that’s just the streaming alone! I may have wrote an article about it for the aforementioned TV site, using the streaming bit as a loophole.)

Plus the intent was always to focus on gaming content, although I doubt I’ll ever be accepted into the rarified air of gaming media/journalism – I’ve come to terms with that reality while working out how to proceed from my current position. (Of course I’d be more than happy to take a job if anyone from the industry wants to contact me. *insert exaggerated sparkling smile here*)

Other Thoughts and Ideas

I’ve been fighting with myself about writing a CS:GO vs COD article. It’s been done to death, leading me to believe people wouldn’t really be interested in the topic.

There are some interesting comparisons to be made between the two competitive FPS giants though. I could touch on everything from PC vs console, the aim assist argument, international communities, their distinct monetization models… crap, now I want to write it anyway.

Fleeting ideas for list articles pop into my mind as quick articles to fill space with, but I feel like the internet is supersaturated with lists and they’re pretty lowbrow as far as content is concerned. I know people love them but they’re too easy, ultimately lack creativity and are the internet content equivalent of traffic begging.

Side note on top lists: I was hired to write top ten lists back when I was working regularly as a freelance writer by this client who had a site that was nothing but “Top 10 This” and “Top 10 That”. They were so mind-numbing to write that I literally wrote a few with my eyes closed. I’m not saying I have anything really against list articles, but they really are so easy that they practically write themselves.

Want me to write about a particular topic? Maybe you want a Top 5 or Top 10 list article to pull ideas from. Let me know by email at lockekosta@gmail.com or in the comments below. I’m more than happy to give the people what they want.

In Other News…

I’ve been reading movie scripts and publications on screenwriting in preparation of writing my own. I have a few different story ideas, including an increasingly fleshed-out idea I’m working on first. I have no delusions of grandeur and fully understand that there’s a 99.99% chance any script I write won’t see the light of day, but the format, while rigid in structure, is pretty fun and fits my storytelling style really well.

I have this insane idea in the back of my head to write fifty scripts and then see what I can do with them, but I’m really just thinking about the one for now.

I got a somewhat regular client who wants me to write about pets. The money is so low it’s practically demeaning, but I like pets – especially dogs – making the articles enjoyable to research and write. It’s nice getting paid to write about pets and TV at least.

I got a week-long stay of execution on the eviction front. They lied about having already started the “eviction process”, and didn’t really begin until this past Monday. So I’m not out on my ass until most likely this coming Monday, which has been nice.

I might even get another week if they buy my “I’ll be good by the middle of October” bullshit. While I’m a pretty good salesman, I’m so far in the hole and the management is so corporate and clinical about matters that I doubt I’ll get another week. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

Sure it’s first person, but I’ve noticed so many paragraphs in this start with “I”! I spend so much time telling you how I’m doing but you never tell me how you’re doing! Feel free to do so in the comments below. Consider it a “Judgement Free Zone”, just don’t go admitting to highly illegal activities or get too explicit.